The present invention relates generally to records which contain both machine-readable representations of data and images, and more particularly to records, such as driver's licenses, visas, tickets, or bearer bonds, in which the image, such as a photograph, is overlaid or represented in a manner similar to data relating to the image or to the record.
Currently, many records include both images, such as photographs, and data, such as text. Passports, visas, and drivers licenses include photographs of their owners and data about the use of the records. A passport has information recording the status of the traveler. A visa has information regarding the purpose of the visit of the holder. A driver's license has information regarding the owner's driving restrictions.
Other records have images, such as pictures, and different types of data. For example, certain bonds will have a distinctive picture, such as of George Washington, as well as data about the bonds. Other records, such as stock certificates and the like, have similar types of images and data.
Currently, the data and images on such records are separate. There has been no mechanism to interrelate the data and images in a way that enhances the properties of the record. Such enhancement could be used to reduce counterfeiting, which is a problem both for records using a photograph for identification and for records using a distinctive picture.
In combining the images and the data, it would also be advantageous to encode the data to make it difficult to understand the information without the appropriate decoding machinery. This would further discourage counterfeiting.
There are also good reasons to encode the data into a format which allows a great deal of information to be placed on the record. For example, for those records which use photographs for identification, the information on the record could include further identifying information about the owner of the record, such as eye color, hair color, height, weight, etc. Then, if a new photograph were inserted over the appropriate photograph, the information would not match the new photograph and the counterfeiting would be detected.
Another way to make counterfeiting more difficult is to place the encoded information over the picture. If this were done, any replacement or alteration of the picture would also remove or distort some of the verifying information as well.
There are problems in doing this, however. The overlaid information may distort or obscure the photograph, thereby making it difficult to use the photograph for identification. In addition, the light and dark areas of the photograph may distort the information, making it difficult to read the information.
For records that have pictorial images, the problem is less one of identification than it is of preventing multiple redemption. In such cases, counterfeiting could be detected if the data on the record included information regarding the status of the record so that multiple redemptions could be detected. To make multiple redemptions all the more difficult, it would be advantageous to encode the information and to use the picture as a back-up security measure. Presently, this is not done.